Who was Andrea DelVesco? UCLA student

Share

In 2015, tragedy rocked the UCLA campus when a student, age 21, was discovered dead.

True crime fans are interested in learning more about the tragic case because a man is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.

Who was Andrea DelVesco? UCLA student

Andrea “Andy” DelVesco, a UCLA student, was born in Austin, Texas, on June 29, 1994.

She belonged to the Pi Beta Phi sorority, and she and her sorority members were frequently spotted about campus.

She was pursuing a Spanish and psychology double major in the classroom.

What happened to Andrea DelVesco?

On September 21, 2015, UCLA student Sarah Muhr had just arrived home from dropping her boyfriend off at LAX.

She first noticed a weird man running down the stairway at around 5:30 in the morning while wearing a red and blue tank top, dark trousers, and a baseball cap.

She initially dismissed it and made the decision to continue sleeping, but less than an hour later, she was awakened by the sound of a lady screaming and barking.

According to CNN, she immediately dialled 911 to report the screaming and the unsettling figure she had previously seen.

Police arrived at the complex and searched DelVesco’s apartment but there was “no evidence of a crime,” according to Officer Rhoadell Sudduth.

Shortly after they arrived, the police left, but Muhr was still terrified and unable to sleep again. The same man was seen jumping from DelVesco’s balcony less than an hour later when she heard another loud commotion coming from the apartment.

She immediately dialled 911 once more after spotting smoke this time.

“I just called the cops about a girl screaming and I just saw the guy who was in there run out of her room and it looks like her room is on fire,” Muhr told the operator, according to a transcript of the call obtained by CNN.

Authorities arrived at the location once more, but this time they discovered DelVesco’s badly charred body on her bed.

According to CNN, police records revealed that she was initially referred to as “Jane Doe” before being definitely identified by dental records.

DelVesco “was most likely deceased prior to the ignition of the house fire,” according to the results of her autopsy, which later indicated low levels of carbon monoxide in her blood and the absence of soot in her lungs.

Who killed Andrea DelVesco?

Police initiated an inquiry to attempt and uncover DelVesco’s killer after her body was found.

Alberto Medina and Eric Marquez, two college students, were ultimately detained as a result of the investigation.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Medina, a student at Fresno State University, was eventually convicted guilty of murder, arson, burglary, and animal cruelty in connection with DelVesco’s passing. He received a life sentence without the chance of release.

DelVesco’s neighbour Marquez, a UCLA student, also entered a guilty plea to one count of burglary and one count of accessory after the fact. In 2018, he received a prison term of two years and eight months.

Because of how they handled the initial 911 call, the LAPD also received criticism for their handling of DelVesco’s murder. According to CBS News, experienced officers Rhoadell Sudduth and Alisha Williams were fired as a result.

“If they had gone into the apartment, maybe Andrea would be alive today,” DelVesco’s mother, Leslie, said in a statement, via CBS News.

“It astounds me and horrifies me that the police could have left and not made sure that all the girls in the apartment were OK.”

“We’ll never know if when they responded to the initial 911 call if Andrea was alive or not. But we do know that the fire hadn’t been set then. So no matter what, we could have seen Andrea as we remembered her before her body was so badly burned,” she added.

The LAPD also issued a statement that read: “For Andrea DelVesco’s family, friends, the community, and the men and women of the LAPD, the facts and circumstances surrounding her death earlier this year were a heartbreaking and unspeakable tragedy.